My favorite bookstore, only a memory

It was a hot summer back in 1990. The old strip mall where my father used to take me on afternoon outings was about to get a new tenant. That strip mall has some history to it for me.

As early as 1982, my parents and I moved into a small apartment on the west side of Flagstaff Arizona, where it was close to the local college, and mom just started working at the Burger King on the corner of Milton and University. Target was nothing but open field (built in 1994) and there was a strip mall across the street from our apartment, well across the street from another strip mall. Our apartment was behind the first one, named Sherwood Forest.

There was a grocery store there called El Rancho Market, and I thought it was cool. At four years old I thought them selling day glo child sized cups was awesome, and they made a special path just for me out of the linoleum. Orange and black tile lined the outer portions of the store, while the aisles were stark white. I always smelled fresh bread baking from the bakery, (where JoAnns is now) and dad always bought me a donut or a cookie from there while he and mom were grocery shopping. It was a sign of good times. When mom used to work late at Burger King, dad would take me to the laundry mat next door (Where the DES offices are), not to do laundry, but to step into the arcade. He could play Aviator for hours, and I would be so fascinated by him playing. Getting there for me was quite scary, since I was four. We had to cross a very busy street and my little four year old legs can only run so far or so fast.

I could always remember what dad bought at El Rancho... a loaf of bread, Top Ramen, Pot pies, and if he was with his friends, some beer. He would never buy meat there, he always went to the butcher down the road. But every time, it never failed, he would always go to the bakery first, buy a donut, or a cookie, hand it over to me, and continue shopping. I followed the orange and black path like I was driving the cart myself down an enchanted road. and would always cover my eyes when dad steered the cart away from the road.

My god I remember the Marquee on the front of the store

Bakery El Rancho Market Wine & Spirits

It's funny how I can get so attached to buildings, but they remind me of happier times with my family. El Rancho, Super Fun, Longs Drugs, and yes, even Safeway on Plaza Way. I can't help but laugh when I walk into Bun Huggers. they have crates you can sit on, me being four at the time, I didn't understand I couldn't lean back on these crates. I learned my lesson quite slowly and kissed the floor twice in a row.

Fast forward to 1990. I barely got out of fifth grade, and El Rancho was sitting empty for the longest time. My orange and black path was super dusty, and the tiles were falling out of the ceiling. I missed it in there. But I also saw people moving bright orange bookshelves into the empty space, where the liquor department and produce used to be. So I guess it was turning into a bookstore? Hmm... Nothing too interesting to an eleven year old. I obviously didn't pay enough attention, since lots of people were telling me about this great bookstore that just showed up in town, they sell used books, and such. Oh yeah... "You know you could have bought that Guns N Roses tape for a couple of bucks there too right?"

One afternoon I was walking home in the hot Summer sun, and decided to stop by a friends house. I had recently bought a cassette to replaces another one that had been broken. I saved up ten dollars and some change and walked down to the record shop to buy my tape. My friend saw my purchase and said "You know you could have bought that at Bokman's right?"

"What's Bookman's? I asked stupidly.

"Only the coolest bookstore in town, they just opened" she said

"Where is it at?" I asked

"It's down by Burger King on Milton, across the street from there, next to Long's"

By I felt like an idiot... That was the same bookstore moving into El Rancho... I guess they had officially opened and I failed to get notified until much later about it. I felt dumb.

So far I don't know how many copies of Appetite for Destruction I have bought there. Probably so many the staff know me by now. I bought books, music, magazines, and close to everything else at that store. It became my hangout. The other portion of E Rancho was still vacant, until the House of Fabrics moved in. Long's turned into Hasting's, and the House of Fabrics turned into Joann Fabrics. A new building was added that now houses Michael's, and the other side now has Pier One Imports. Probably the only place that had stayed the same since I was a kid in that whole strip mall was TCBY and Peter Piper Pizza. Everything else changed. I was ecstatic when my mom got hired at the fabric store. She was right next door to Bookmans, and having the excuse to bother her during work gave me the lamer excuse to spend time in Bookmans with hours on end.

A few months ago I had read on Flagstaff's online newspaper the roof to Bookman's and Joann Fabrics collapsed. My heart sank. My husband and I planned to make a trip to Arizona to see my family again, yet I can't hang out in my little corner by the coffee shop. The store is close to demolished now. The good news is they both plan to return in late fall/early winter of this year, the bad news is I can't visit the Bookman's I have come to know and love... I have to go down to the Valley to even go to a Bookmans. I also plan on leaving some items behind at the Phoenix store.

I love Bookmans so much I decided to paint an ugly pressboard bookshelf to that bright orange color Bookmans uses to paint it's bookshelves.

Hmm why did they paint their bookshelves bright orange? Is that Bob's (Owner and founding person) favorite color? Is it something that made the store distinguished from other bookstores, since other bookstores just left theirs fake laminate, and stain? Possibly to land jets in their stores for more customer base? Who knows.

If anyone finds themselves in Arizona, (Tucson, Phoenix, Mesa, or Flagstaff) I highly recommend a trip there to Bookmans. They sell close to everything, and don't charge an arm and a leg for it. They also have a warm inviting feeling once you walk into the store. Almost like coming home. They have everything ranging from housewares, books, comics, cassettes, VHS cassettes, DVDs video games, Compact discs, magazines and everything in between. You can also bring in your stuff you don't want anymore for cash or trade credit. They offer free WiFi, allow seeing eye animals, some offer coffee shops, and have things to do for kids on certain days. Barnes N Noble don't even come close as far as charm is concerned.

God I miss Bookmans...